The Girl Child

Girls are “girls” but girls are also human beings like boys, and girl have feelings – a lot of feelings that are being ignored by society, since the beginning of time till this day!

Girls need to be understood and when they are being understood, they see the love coming towards them, hugging them with warmthness.

Girls need an equal chance/opportunity to learn, to be able to grow freely, to be nurtured into healthy beings. Girls all over the world are exploited in many ways. In Thailand for example, girls go into prostitution in order to survive, to help their families or they are forced into it. And it becomes unhealthy because of the different sicknesses that exist.

In today’s society, girls are treated as sex symbols or they are born to stay at home and work. Society thinks household work is easy but boy, Society is so wrong! Young girls put in about 7-10 hours per day in working at home. This leads to a problem concerning education. Because girls have to stay home and work, it prevents them from going to school and getting the education they need.

Girls who get raped never speak out because they are afraid of being blamed(which is most likely) by other and so they keep quiet and they then start blaming themselves for something that is preventable and something that is not their fault.

When I read through “The Girl Child” book published by UNICEF, I was not shocked because I, as a girl went through this suffering. I only asked myself “why?” I’ve asked this question since I was a very little girl. Why are girls treated so differently? Why are we treated as if we don’t have feelings and as if we don’t have the brains to do anything else or be anyone in life except to stay home and to get pregnant? Why are we given less importance? Why can’t society accept us for who we are and treat us as equals?

A girl needs to be able to show her feelings out, express herself in anyway she wants and be respected by society. She needs society to acknowledge that girls are important because we may be girls but we are also human beings. She needs to have the right to speak out and say what’s on her mind and she needs to feel safe in a place without having anyone to accompany her.

Please, we have got to start taking some serious action in this matter. In my opinion, the UN Convention On the Rights of the Child is a great help and hope for children all over the world. We must work on this “Bill of Rights” and get the world leaders to not only ratify but also enforce it.

We must educate girl children about themselves – that it is o.k. to be a girl and girls are human beings. It’s perfectly fine to show their out and it’s o.k. to want to be loved by others. We must also educate the other gender on this matter-respecting girls for who they are and teaching them how both genders are equal and both are important. Both must work together for a better world and better future for everyone! Let there be peace on our mother earth now!!